open position: software engineer/data...
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OPEN POSITION: SOFTWARE ENGINEER/DATA SCIENTIST
Integration of AiiDA’s Automation Tools and ChemAlive’s Cloud Quantum Chemistry Platform
An open position for a software engineer/data scientist is available at EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland) in the group of Prof. Nicola Marzari and in synergy with the MARVEL NCCR (http://marvel-nccr.ch). The position is funded through a partnership with ChemAlive (http://www.chemalive.com), a company hosted at EPFL Innovation Park, and the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation, through a project grant. Excellent candidates are sought with strong experience in database architecture and data science, and the development of complex web architectures powered by cloud technologies. A background in phys-ical sciences (chemistry, physics or materials) is a plus with a strong track record in programming. ChemAlive, as part of its portfolio, develops an on-line web interface for the automation of quantum chemistry codes directly from 2D chemical syntax providing a fully interactive experience in navigating the resulting data in a web environment. AiiDA (http://www.aiida.net) is a materials’ informatics framework that acts as a flexible and scalable infrastructure to manage high-throughput computations; Materials Cloud is a portal for computational materials science and an online cloud platform, while ChemAlive is an external commercial partner de-veloping similar technology for molecular chemistry. Such infrastructure underpins the efforts of the MARVEL NCCR; close collaborations also take place with the H2020 Centre of Excellence MaX for “Mate-rials Design at the Exascale” (http://www.max-centre.eu). The primary goal of the current 1.5-year project is to integrate the AiiDA (www.aiida.net) platform into the ChemAlive interface. This will entail coding plugins for common open-source quantum chemistry packages (NWchem, CP2K) and re-coding and further development of workflows developed by Che-mAlive into the workflow engine of AiiDA to accomplish complex automation routines using a Python scripting environment.
The position will require direct and frequent communication between the groups working at EPFL, (THEOS/MARVEL and ChemAlive) and Basel (Prof. Anatole von Lilienfeld), and occasional travel between Lausanne and Basel. The software engineer will work directly with ChemAlive SA employees, and should have a future inter-est in commercializing computing in chemistry and in on-line science. For interested applicants scien-tific research challenges can also be incorporated into the effort, but only in so far as they align with the ChemAlive objectives. Requirements:
• Python experience (advanced) • Database systems (at least one, ideally PostgreSQL) • Management of large codes/projects in a team (version control systems, issue trackers, unit test,
continuous integration and other good software practices) • Experience with handling large amounts of data
Other desirable skills:
• Experience with cloud services - Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform or OpenStack • Web frontend technologies (AngularJS, HTML5, CSS3) and web/UI frameworks • Modern JS visualization and UI libraries (three.js, d3.js, …)
The software engineer will be based in the Marzari laboratory, and work with a team of 10+ PhD stu-dents, postdocs, and software specialists with diverse backgrounds (physicists, chemists, materials sci-entists and computer scientists) contributing to the AiiDA platform, and would interact closely with the CEO, COO and CTO of ChemAlive (all chemists) as well as the company-side engineers who will be man-aging the front-end development. Candidates should submit 1) a full CV, including contacts for at least two references, and 2) a cover letter of intent. These documents (PDF only) should be emailed to both [email protected] and [email protected], with the exact text “ChemAlive Database Engineer” in the Subject line. For best consideration, applications should be submitted by December 10 2017; the position will remain open until filled. Duration of the contract: 1.5 years, with the possibility to renew through future grants and strong possibility of direct hire to ChemAlive, located in Lausanne. Salary strongly competitive com-pared to standard postdoctoral remuneration.